CRABBER 22
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Catalog excerpts

CRABBER 22 - 1

Last Christmas, it looked all over for the UK's best-known builder of gaff-rigged boats. Yet by January's London Boat Show, Cornish Crabbers was back in business. Alice Driscoll went to Cornwall to ask: Where did it all go right? With photographs by Peter Chesworth In September 2008, the world of finance and commerce was in turmoil. The US House of Representatives had voted down a $700 billion plan aimed at bailing out Wall Street, Lehman Brothers had filed for Chapter 11, there was a global share plunge, and unemployment in Europe was at its highest for a decade. So the news that 20 jobs had been lost in Cornwall as the effects of the credit crunch hit the UK went relatively unnoticed. At the end of the Southampton Boat Show, after what the then Managing Director called "an awful show", the Select Yacht Group of Wadebridge, Cornwall went bust. Best known as the company that designed and built the Cornish Crabber and Shrimper, the group also sold the British Hunter range of boats, Diva powerboats and had launched the

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CRABBER 22 - 2

As international markets reeled over the revelations of global billions of debt, one man in the east of England, Philip Langsdale, was being pursued for the money he now owed the liquidators of Select Yacht Group. And from that phone call, a whole new chapter started for the company that had once With its well proportioned gaff cutter rig, wood-finished coachroof and very shapely multi-chine hull, the 30' (9.1m) Pilot Cutter really looks the part from the outside. Down below, traditional details combine with creature comforts to create a light, modern interior. been called Britain's most...

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CRABBER 22 - 3

So to find out just what is so good about these boats, I head off to Rock to see the factory and to Falmouth to sail the boats and to meet the two most important people in the business after Philip Langsdale, Sales Manager Peter Thomas and Works Manager Roger Cox. I want to find out how this company was saved and what Cornish Crabbers came about after building architect Roger Dongray asked Westerley Boats - no, not that Westerly; this was a dinghy-building business run by Peter Keeling recently moved down from the north - to build a 24' (7.3m) plywood gaffer he had designed for his own use....

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CRABBER 22 - 4

With her wide sidedecks and generous headroom down below, the Crabber 22 is the latest example of the winning Crabber concept. appreciate the lovely light wood interior, blue striped fabrics, and famous Cornish Blue china stacked in the plate racks. Something else catches my eye: this is the first boat I've sailed for Water Craft with a framed print on the bulkhead! She's a lovely size. Easy to handle, and comfortable enough for a group of friends or family to charter, there's room for six to sleep on board. Richard offers skippered charters on this boat, and also has two Shrimpers, which...

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CRABBER 22 - 5

We're sailing by Black Rock into Falmouth Bay but before I can delve any further, more boats are heading towards us. The smallest is a Shrimper, helmed by Works Manager Roger Cox, universally known as Budgie. Sailing alongside is a brand new Crabber 22, helmed by owner Nick Kitson. We've not got too long and there's the factory to visit, so I jump aboard the Nick is another long term fan of the company, having only recently upgraded from a Shrimper to this new style Crabber. She seems to me an ideal small family boat: clever and cute. There's a double berth up front, with ingeniously hidden...

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CRABBER 22 - 6

the Shrimper. I'm immediately aware of the size difference between this boat and the Crabber. Lovely though she is - and owned and sailed by Budgie, she's in great condition - I've been spoiled by the new Crabber though; to me, the Shrimper seems a daysailer with enough space to bunk down for night or two. I can't believe Budgie has been with the company for 40 years; he doesn't look old enough. As the wind drops and we slowly drift along to meet the others up the Fai, it seems like the right time to ask the burning question: What happened in 2008 to make it all go wrong? "It was simple,"...

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CRABBER 22 - 7

Peter Thomas has ambitious plans. He's looking to expand the workforce, to double production and reach a turnover of £1 million "We're halfway there already," he says. "And we've plans for some new boats. Watch this space." But our time is whiling away and I still have to go to Rock, on Cornwall's north coast, to see the factory. It's all part of the Cornish Crabber experience, Peter explains:"Once people have had a sail and then visited the factory, they almost always buy. They just can't help it." And what about Philip Langsdale, the new chairman, who went one step further and bought the...

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